Luke Szabo, ACT Supreme Court: Chef allegedly shoved tissues down crying baby’s throat
A ‘grumpy’ and ‘irritable’ man babysitting an 11-month-old baby allegedly shoved tissues down its throat causing his eyes to ‘bulge out of his head’, a court has heard.
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A “grumpy” and “irritable” babysitter allegedly stuffed a wad of four tissues down an 11-month-old baby’s throat, a court has heard.
Canberra chef and former pizza delivery driver Luke Paul Szabo on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to unlawfully causing grievous bodily harm and unlawfully choking the young baby.
Crown prosecutor Anthony Williamson told the ACT Supreme Court the case against Szabo is that he stuffed the tissues down Lincoln’s throat after the baby began crying.
The baby is the child of Szabo’s then-partner, who left her children with Szabo so she could work a shift at a bar.
When she left, he was sleeping quietly, Mr Williamson said.
Mr Williamson said: “the accused committed this act in anger and frustration at the infant crying while he was in an irritable mood”.
Neighbour Greg Thompson told the court that when he came to the house he saw the baby’s eyes “bulging out of his head”.
“I thought it was all over,” Mr Thompson said.
Mr Thompson told the court he remembered telling police Szabo was “panicking, he was shitting himself”.
Paramedics who rushed to the scene found the baby with serious bruising and injuries which Mr Williamson said were only consistent with an assault.
The paramedics, who arrived less than five minutes after Mr Thompson made a triple-0 call, found him purple around the lips and extremities because of a serious lack of oxygen.
They rushed him to hospital.
The court heard Szabo had at first slammed the door on the oldest of the five children when she came into the room to help, before asking her to get a pair of tweezers to try to remove the tightly packed wad of tissues.
Mr Williamson said he expected Szabo’s legal team to argue there were innocent explanations for how the baby ended up with tissues in its throat and with other significant injuries, but said he would argue those explanations were “fanciful” and “far-fetched”.
Mr Williamson said the “overwhelming and inescapable inference” was that Szabo stuffed the tissues down the baby’s throat.
The trial, before Justice Michael Elkaim, sitting without a jury, continues.